President Joe Biden said Friday's jobs report shows his economic plan is working, even as it suggests high inflation isn't going anywhere.
Biden spoke at the White House after the economy added a strong 311,000 jobs in February, which could lead the Federal Reserve to pursue more aggressive interest rate hikes.
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"Today's numbers make it clear, our economy is moving in the right direction," Biden said.
The 311,000 jobs added last month is more than expected, another sign that the Fed's interest rate hikes have not substantially harmed the strong labor market.
The new figures reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning provide reassurance about the economy's strength. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6%, which is a low figure by historical standards, as more people entered the labor force.
"Because of our economic plan, unemployment has been below 4% for 16 straight months," Biden said. "The share of working-age folks who are in the labor force is higher than it has been at any time since 2008."
However, the stronger jobs report shows that the central bank's rate hikes aren’t yet having the punch officials want, and it could cause the Fed to lean toward a more aggressive monetary stance at its meeting later this month.
Republicans were quick to point this out on Friday morning. The Republican National Committee released a statement saying that "workers are paying Biden's inflation tax."
“Even as inflation remains extremely high, wage growth slowed this month to the lowest levels seen in a year," said RNC spokesman Tommy Pigott. "This comes after years of workers losing ground to inflation under Joe Biden. Indeed, inflation has forced the most Americans since the Great Recession into unsustainable debt.”
Credit card debt has reached an all-time high.
The news also comes as Biden and House Republicans spar over the debt ceiling, which Biden mentioned as he lashed out at the GOP.
"Now the biggest threat to our economy is the reckless talk from my MAGA friends — this is not your father's Republican Party," Biden said. "They're threatening to default on our national debt. In fact, they're planning to default, as some Republicans seem to be doing. It puts us very much at risk."
During congressional testimony this week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that hot inflation reports and persistent strong jobs growth could cause rates to go higher and stay longer. Inflation rose in January to a 5.4% annual rate, according to the personal consumption expenditures index, which is the gauge favored by the Fed.
After he spoke, the odds of a larger Fed rate hike of half a percentage point rose above 60%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which calculates the probability using futures contract prices for rates in the short-term market targeted by the Fed.
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The first question Biden was asked after his prepared remarks concluded was about inflation and interest rate hikes.
"Inflation has been down for many weeks in a row now, and as I said, we'll see blips of it going up, but I feel confident that we're headed in the right direction," Biden said. "We'll see what the Fed will do."